NEW RESEARCH appears to show that climate, weather, sunshine and Vitamin D all play a significant part in shaping the development and progress of the coronavirus pandemic.

We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

The number of new UK coronavirus infections has been decreasing significantly in the last few weeks, according to data provided by Public Health England (PHE). Perhaps the most dramatic fall has been witnessed in London, where PHE modelling suggests that less than 24 people a day are contracting the killer virus. Yet the question remains whether this is entirely down to the lockdown and social distancing measures, or whether other factors are behind the welcome decline of coronavirus.

Related articles

Scientists looking into the effect of latitude on the spread of the disease have detected a very interesting pattern.

Their studies show that the virus follows a very specific path around the globe, leaving some countries practically untouched, while wreaking devastation in others.

Researchers at the University of Maryland discovered that most cases fall along a narrow east-west corridor of 30 and 50 degrees of latitude.

This band includes northern Italy, the Pacific Northwest, Japan, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany.

NEW REASEACH appears to show that climate, weather, sunshine and Vitamin D (Image: GETTY)

The number of new UK coronavirus infections has been decreasing significantly (Image: GETTY)

All the countries share similar climactic conditions.

In contrast, areas that were expected to be hit hardest by the pandemic due to their geographical proximity to China, such as South East Asia, have had relatively low infections and deaths compared to those in the ‘coronavirus belt’.

Moreover, weather records for the worst affected countries show they all had similar average temperatures of between 5C and 11C, along with humidity levels ranging from 47 to 79 percent, conditions in which coronavirus thrives, according to laboratory tests.

Additional scientific research also indicates a correlation between weather and the spread of the virus.

Additional scientific research also indicates a correlation (Image: GETTY)

Evidence is also mounting that Vitamin D provides protection against the virus (Image: GETTY)

Italy and Spain suffered high mortality rates, while scientists found both countries have lower than average vitamin D levels.

Conversely, the highest average levels of vitamin D are found in northern Europe, due to the high consumption of cod liver oil and vitamin D supplements.

Scandinavian nations are among the countries with the lowest number of Covid-19 cases and mortality rates per head of population in Europe.

Dr Lee Smith, Reader in Physical Activity and Public Health at Anglia Ruskin University, told the Daily Telegraph: “Vitamin D has been shown to protect against acute respiratory infections, and older adults, the group most deficient in vitamin D, are also the ones most seriously affected by Covid-19.

“A previous study found that 75 per cent of people in institutions, such as hospitals and care homes, were severely deficient in vitamin D.”

Finally, there is growing evidence that sunlight can kill viruses, which tend to survive better in cold weather due to their fatty protective coating, which degrades when it is warm.

A Harvard University Study showed that at 6C in dry weather, the flu virus can survive for more than 23 hours on a surface.

However, at a temperature of 32C it was dying within an hour. Bright sunlight can quickly heat up surfaces beyond 32°C even if the outside air temperature is lower.